Minnesota Vikings 'very, very close' to Arden Hills stadium deal

A street sign lies on the side of the road inside the Twin Cities Army Ammunition Plant in Arden Hills. (Pioneer Press: Stacy Bengs, file)

The Minnesota Vikings are "very, very close" to reaching an agreement with Ramsey County to build a stadium in Arden Hills, a Ramsey County commissioner involved in negotiations told the Pioneer Press on Thursday.

Also Thursday, Hennepin County Board Chairman Mike Opat abandoned his pursuit of a stadium at the site of the Minneapolis Farmers Market, according to a letter he sent to Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton.

With backers of a new stadium on the site of the Metrodome scrambling to put together a financing proposal as the Legislature's session approaches a May 23 adjournment, the developments appear to make the notion of the east metro landing the team — originally presumed to be a long shot — a real possibility.

Road improvements to get tens of thousands of fans in and out of the largely roadless Arden Hills site appear to be the final notable obstacle before the team and Ramsey County can announce an agreement, according to statements from the team and Ramsey County officials.

Their hope appears to be getting a thumbs-up from Dayton and key lawmakers that the state can pay for at least some of the needed transportation improvements.

"We are very, very close to coming to a full proposal with the Vikings," said Ramsey County Commissioner Rafael Ortega, one of two commissioners who have been in talks with the team for months. "We have a few i's to dot and t's to cross. The big nut to crack, so to speak, is the transportation issue.

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On Thursday, key players huddled around maps and other highway documents in the state Transportation Building. Among them: Vikings owner Zygi Wilf, House Transportation Chairman Michael Beard, Senate Transportation Chairman Joe Gimse and Ramsey County commissioners Tony Bennett and Ortega.

Also in the group was Ted Mondale, who is Dayton's point man on the stadium as well as the chairman of the Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission, the owner of the Metrodome in downtown Minneapolis.

The topics, according to several of those present:

Interchanges, intersections and roads around the site of the abandoned Twin Cities Army Ammunition Plant at Interstate 35W and U.S. 10.

Which ones need improvements.

How much the work would cost.

Lester Bagley, the Vikings' vice president of public affairs and stadium development, said the team likes the Arden Hills location but the cost of transportation improvements must be addressed.

"There's a viable proposal on the table and we're looking at it," Bagley said in an interview. "We're trying to resolve this transportation issue so we can stand up and say, 'We've got a local partner and we've got an agreement.' "

When asked whether those transportation costs were all that are keeping the team and the county from publicly announcing an agreement, Bagley said, "There are a few other issues to iron out."

The Vikings lease on the 30-year-old Metrodome expires at the end of the 2011-12 season, and the franchise is angling for hundreds of millions in taxpayer subsidies to help build a stadium. The final construction cost of a new home could fall between $700 million and $900 million — not including transportation improvements, according to various estimates.

FEW DETAILS PUBLIC

A framework bill in the Legislature implies a three-way split in funding contributions from the team and various state and local taxes. Dayton has said since February that he wants the Vikings to pay between a third and half the bill.

The details of whatever Ramsey County and the team have tentatively worked out were unclear.

Bennett said any countywide sales tax increase would not be more than a half percent. Other options include a tax on any hotels and restaurants built on the site, and possibly revenue from tailgating on its parking lots — though Bennett, Ortega and Bagley declined to discuss such details Thursday.

The transportation costs, as well as costs to clean up pollution on the land, have been seen as the potential Achilles' heel of the Arden Hills site because neither Minneapolis site requires such measures. Estimates at one point put the transportation tab in excess of $240 million, but several officials said those costs have steadily and sharply fallen.

Bennett said they were now "significantly lower than" $199 million, the most recent figure reported.

Beard, R-Shakopee, said the costs were "substantially less" than that figure as well.

Beard described the meeting in the Transportation Building as a "freewheeling" discussion about the state's pre-existing plans in the area, as well as cost estimates for a host of potential traffic snarls, ranging from the interchange of Interstates 694 and 35W to "that intersection by North Heights Lutheran Church."

Beard said he was encouraged.

"We're really interested in seeing a reasonable deal, and we said: 'We're all ears. Let us help,' " he said. "We don't want to lose the team. We've got a local partner who's willing to stick their neck out, and God bless them for that."

Gimse, R-Willmar, said it made sense that transportation committee chairs were looped in on the Arden Hills plans.

"The Vikings, I think, are approaching it the proper way," he said. "They need to look at all the ways of getting fans in and out of the stadium as efficiently as possible."

In the past, Bennett has said he was seeking a stadium with a roof that would be publicly owned so as to accommodate the non-NFL uses that gave the Metrodome the moniker "Minnesota's rec room." That intent was consistent with Dayton's stated desire for a "people's stadium" — a phrase Bennett played off of when asked about public and political support for road improvements.

"These are the people's roads," he said. "These transportation improvements are improvements to the highways used by the people of Minnesota. Drive by there next Friday (on the eve of the fishing opener) and look at all the boats being towed up north. Everyone passes through that interchange (at I-694 and I-35W)."

OPAT LACKED SUPPORT

Unlike several years ago when he spearheaded the move to build the new Minnesota Twins stadium, Opat lacked the political support on the Hennepin County Board to push for a local sales tax increase to help build a Vikings stadium.

"In this time of severe cuts proposed to local governments, and to the services we provide, it is too burdensome for Hennepin County to act as a local partner for the Vikings stadium," Opat wrote in a letter sent to Dayton on Thursday.

The farmers market site had support from some Minneapolis business leaders, and earlier this week, a group of business partners who had first pushed the Twins site attempted to bring the site to a more public discussion. The partners released a consultant's report they paid for concluding that the farmers market site was better than the Metrodome site.

In his letter to Dayton, Opat said he assembled a "small team of very talented staff to consider the opportunity." Unlike the Ramsey County Board, the Hennepin County Board has never made a formal declaration of an intent to pursue an NFL stadium. In an earlier interview with the Pioneer Press, Opat said he wasn't sure how much money the county might have spent on the Vikings stadium effort, but he said he was certain it was less than $50,000 on a hired consultant.

Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak and City Council President Barb Johnson have both advocated a stadium on or near the Metrodome site. However, both have also said Minneapolis couldn't afford to pay the local share of stadium construction.

It wasn't clear Thursday what proponents of the Metrodome location might propose to keep the Vikings in Minneapolis.